● The Barcelona Commercial Court issued interim measures against Ryanair, mandating the immediate cease of its denigrating behaviours towards eDreams ODIGEO and its products.

● This urgent pre-trial order is based on strong evidence that Ryanair has engaged in a months-long smear campaign against eDreams and its Prime programme, using false claims to mislead consumers and compete unfairly, in violation of Article 9 of the Unfair Competition Law (LCD).

● This decision builds on a previous definitive ruling, confirmed by Spain’s Supreme Court, which had already mandated the airline to halt its denigration tactics and anti competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO.

● eDreams ODIGEO has also achieved a legal victory against Ryanair in Germany, where Courts have ordered the airline to cease multiple anti-consumer and misleading practices.

Barcelona, 29 July 2024.- eDreams ODIGEO (hereinafter, ‘the Company’ or ‘eDO’ for short), the world’s leading travel subscription company and one of Europe’s largest e-commerce companies, today welcomed the interim measures issued against Ryanair, which mandates an immediate halt to its denigrating practices.

This pre-trial order by the Barcelona Commercial Court No. 12 is based on compelling evidence that Ryanair has engaged in a long-term smear campaign against the Company and its Prime programme, disseminating multiple false claims to mislead consumers and compete unfairly, in violation of Article 9 of the Unfair Competition Law (LCD). The Court has acknowledged the urgent need to approve the measures due to Ryanair’s ongoing denigrating statements against eDreams and its products.

The judge has determined that Ryanair's lies against eDreams and eDreams Prime are a "perfectly organised campaign designed to promote Ryanair.com for booking flights and associated services”. According to this ruling, this campaign is denigrating advertising as it gives consumers false information about eDreams and eDreams Prime.

This decision builds on a previous definitive ruling, confirmed by the Spanish Supreme Court, which had already mandated the airline to halt its denigration tactics and anti-competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO.

Ryanair’s defamation strategy, which has also targeted multiple other online travel agents, aims to coerce competitors into signing anticompetitive and anti-consumer distribution agreements. This tactic is also intended to deflect scrutiny from Ryanair’s own abusive practices and ongoing investigations by authorities across Europe.

Ryanair’s anti-consumer practices under scrutiny

eDreams ODIGEO has long championed consumer rights against Ryanair’s anti-consumer practices and is actively leading or participating in multiple cases against the airline in defence of consumers. One such case involves antitrust proceedings in Italy for alleged abuse of market dominance. This case, supported by eDreams ODIGEO and the vast majority of the Italian travel industry, including federations, trade bodies representing thousands of travel businesses, and consumer associations, prompted Ryanair to launch a smear campaign targeting the complainants, particularly eDreams and its Prime programme.

The Italian Antitrust Authority (AGCM) defined Ryanair’s actions as a smear campaign aimed at dissuading consumers from using travel agents, highlighting the airline’s use of false and misleading claims.

Additionally, data protection authorities from several European countries are probing Ryanair’s discriminatory practices towards customers. These investigations in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Belgium, and Poland include allegations of privacy-invasive practices that breach GDPR, such as requesting unnecessary biometric data and imposing additional fees on consumers based on their booking channel of choice.

Recently, eDreams ODIGEO celebrated a legal victory against Ryanair in Germany, where the courts ordered Ryanair to cease multiple anti-consumer and misleading practices in which it currently engages. This includes charging consumers for the use of specific payment methods, lacking transparency in providing the final price throughout the booking process, requiring consumers to create a user account to purchase tickets, enforcing Irish laws and Courts to European consumers, and automatically selecting agreement to terms and conditions without active selection from the user, among others.

The legal and regulatory pressure on Ryanair for its anti-consumer practices is further evidenced by the landmark fine imposed by the Spanish government—estimated at around 100 million euros according to consumer bodies. This fine is the highest ever issued by Consumer Protection authorities to a single business, 17 times larger than the previous record. Additionally, French courts have recently issued a severe sentence against the airline for deliberately violating passenger rights regulations. This includes infringing on consumer rights, failing to compensate for flight cancellations and delays, and engaging in deceptive and aggressive practices.

eDreams ODIGEO remains committed to defending consumers and protecting them from Ryanair's anti-consumer approach.

-ENDS-

Notes to editor:

- The Court has ordered Ryanair to cease using terms such as "scam," "deception," "pirate," and similar expressions in their campaign against eDreams and eDreams Prime. This order applies to both English and Spanish, and extends to images depicting pirates, skulls, and similar motifs.

History of defamation cases:

- In recent months, Ryanair has launched smear campaigns against online travel agents to coerce them into signing anticompetitive distribution agreements. Multiple online travel agents have faced these intense denigrating smear campaigns, which only ceased when they capitulated to Ryanair's anti-competitive demands. The intensified smear campaign against eDreams ODIGEO is a direct response to its refusal to sign agreements that it finds in breach of competition law and harmful to consumers.

- As part of this denigrating strategy, Ryanair has engaged in a months-long campaign against eDreams and its Prime programme, disseminating multiple false claims to mislead consumers and compete unfairly, thereby violating Article 9 of the Unfair Competition Law (LCD).

- This anti-competitive behaviour by Ryanair has taken place despite a previous definitive ruling, confirmed by the Spanish Supreme Court, which had already mandated the airline to halt its denigration tactics and anti-competitive behaviour towards eDreams ODIGEO.

- In its 2010 ruling, the Barcelona Provincial Court found Ryanair guilty of defamation and unfair competition for its use of pejorative language directed towards eDreams ODIGEO. These statements were deemed as an intentional attempt to undermine eDreams ODIGEO's reputation without any valid justification. As a result, Ryanair was ordered by the court to cease such behaviour. This ruling can be consulted here (https://www.poderjudicial.es/search/AN/openDocument/d96efd3a9599a49e/20120906).

- In 2012, the Spanish Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) rejected Ryanair’s last appeal. With this ruling, the Supreme Court confirmed the previous rulings from the Barcelona Second Commercial Court and the Barcelona Provincial Court in favour of eDreams ODIGEO. This ruling can be consulted here (https://vlex.es/vid/425694566).

Ryanair practices under scrutiny:

- eDreams ODIGEO has long championed consumer rights against Ryanair’s anti-consumer practices and is actively leading or participating in multiple cases against the airline in defence of consumers.

- In Italy, competition authorities opened antitrust proceedings against Ryanair for abusing its dominant market position in Italy to the detriment of market competition and consumer choice. This is part of an antitrust case put forward by the vast majority of the Italian travel industry. A total of 12 complainants are a party in the case, including federations and trade bodies representing thousands of travel businesses, both offline and online, with eDreams ODIGEO being one of them.

- Ryanair’s anti-competitive approach towards online travel agents is also under scrutiny by data protection authorities. Ryanair requires travellers without an existing account and those booking through Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) to undergo biometric verification. This process involves providing live self-images or signature images and passport details to access booking management and online check-in features, as well as paying additional fees.

- ‘noyb’, a leading independent digital rights group in Europe, filed a formal complaint (https://noyb.eu/en/booking-ryanair-flight-through-online-travel-agent-might-hold-nasty-surprise) with the Spanish data protection authority as it believes Ryanair is clearly in breach of GDPR. This complaint is being investigated by the Irish Data Protection Office. Since, further Data Protection offices across Europe are investigating similar complaints (https://shorturl.at/1ayrI), including in France, United Kingdom, Belgium or Poland.

- The Spanish Government (https://shorturl.at/xRoVs) recently imposed on Ryanair the highest fine ever issued by Consumer Protection to a single business. This fine, estimated to be around 100 million euros, is 17 times larger than the previous highest fine.

- Similarly, French courts recently issued a severe sentence (https://www.quechoisir.org/actualite-droits-des-passagers-ryanair-lourdement-condamnee-n116314) against the airline for deliberately violating passenger rights regulations. This includes infringing on consumer rights and compensating for flight cancellations and delays, as well as engaging in deceptive and aggressive practices.

- eDreams ODIGEO celebrated a legal victory against Ryanair in Germany, where the courts ordered Ryanair to cease multiple anti-consumer and misleading practices. This included charging consumers for the use of specific payment methods, lacking transparency in providing the final price throughout the booking process, requiring consumers to create a user account to purchase tickets, enforcing Irish laws and Courts to European consumers, and automatically selecting agreement to terms and conditions without active selection from the user, among others.

About eDreams ODIGEO (edreamsodigeo.com)

eDreams ODIGEO is the world’s leading travel subscription platform and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe. Under its four leading online travel agency brands – eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo – it serves more than 21 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with nearly 700 airlines. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has topped 6 million members since launching in 2017. The brand offers the best quality products in regular flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, dynamic packages, car rental and travel insurance to make travel easier, more accessible, and better value for consumers across the globe.

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